Altruistic Tenacity
A Secret Revealed...

Recovery was a long process, one Itachi never realized he despised until he had to go through it. Truly, it would have been kinder just to let him die there on that battlefield. But the truth of the matter was as simple as this: good intentions had always ruined his life. First with ANBU, next the massacre, then Akatsuki, and finally this: a botched atonement all because of a tiny maybe-not-civilian.

He could deal with the many aches and pains his joints still had, and would get in the mornings. Those were easily taken care of with simple stretches, or easily ignored. He could even handle the loss of muscle; that was something expected and something he expected to remedy once he could do more than stretching without becoming tired. But the one thing he could not fully deal with was his eyesight. Yes, he expected to be blind. But expecting and being were two very different things.

It was something he should have known, and to a degree, did. Experiencing it was also a very different thing. Until this last month, he had never gone without his sight. He had never trained for it because he expected to die, which would have made training to be blind completely pointless. Now, he was regretting it. With the way his life had gone since…well, since he had been born, he should have expected that even his death would be taken from him.

He cursed himself.

But he made sure not to curse her. Kagome. She had done what very few would not, and people like her were all that kept him going those many years in Akatsuki. He did all sorts of unsavory things in the hopes that one day the world would be better for people like her. That, maybe, someone like her would help and love his brother. He realized now that what he had done to his brother may have made that next to impossible.

Itachi resolved that as soon as he was able, he would find his brother and try to make everything right with him. His mistakes did not need to carry over to his brother, nor did his brother need to carry on making the same mistakes he had. The world had burned enough.

And it was these thoughts that had been keeping him awake most nights and mornings. Get better, learn to live without sight, save Sasuke. Get better, learn to live without eyesight, save Sasuke.

Because it had always been about Sasuke. And it would always be about Sasuke. Everything in his life since his brother was born had been for him. And he had ruined it.

Out of habit, Itachi closed his eyes and evened his breathing. It was far too early in the morning for Kagome to be up, and yet someone had moved. They misstepped just outside his door and inhaled too sharply as they opened it. Had this been any other morning, he would have been asleep. This mistake wouldn't be repeated.

He could feel them stop next to his bed and lean over. And –

"Ah!"

Itachi immediately let go of the wrist he had grabbed and tried to snap. Though she had said nothing, he knew that voice.

"I'm so sorry!"

Kagome.

"I didn't know you were awake!"

Even though he had been the one to hurt her and nearly break her wrist, she was the one apologizing.

He sat up in bed and looked to where he could hear her voice. There was something else, something that he just barely felt before he had grabbed her. It was not chakra, yet so similar. "Kagome," he said, and she stopped her apologies. "It's all right. I should actually be apologizing to you."

He could hear her smile. "No. Because it's really my fault. I know you're a shinobi, yet I still snuck in here and went near your person. You were just doing what you've been trained to do."

Had Itachi been a man of lesser training and ability, he would have sighed. They could do this for days, as they shared (at least) that trait in common. They were both used to shouldering the burden and taking responsibility. Some may even call it a symbol of a martyr. Others would call it annoying. "I will accept your apology, if you accept mine."

He heard her smile again, and the barest hint of laughter. "OK. I can do that."

"I am sorry about your wrist. I hope it…won't cause you too much trouble." Though what he really meant is that it wouldn't get her in trouble. As far as he could tell these past few weeks was that she was important to the Raikage enough to have to see him every day, along with their jinchuuriki, and that no one really seemed to know he was there. Or so he hoped. For her sake. He came with far too much baggage and a bounty high enough for anyone to try to kill him. And in his state, they would succeed.

"Don't worry about it. I've already taken care of it."

He narrowed his eyes, a habit that would take years to break probably. "Because of your strange chakra?"

She sighed and he heard her get up off the floor. "No, I don't have chakra. I'm no shinobi, like I've told you."

"But you do possess something similar," he said. "I can feel it. I felt it when you came in, and again when you were on the ground."

She paused, and for a moment, he couldn't hear her breath. Then, "I didn't know you were so sensitive," was whispered. But she had to know he could hear it, with how his senses had started to compensate on top of him being a ninja.

"It's not hard to sense chakra when it's being used. Especially in my state." He half-smiled in the direction he thought she was, once again cursing his condition. Everything about him and how he interacted with allies and enemies involved the use of sight. Even these conversations threw him for a loop because he lacked the ability to see all the social cues he could draw from. Now he had to guess, and he didn't do guessing.

"I didn't lie," she said suddenly, after too long a silence. "I don't have chakra. It's called reiryoku."

"Because you're a miko," he finished. Miko were rare, but not unheard of. Demon Country far to the south had miko. They were a small group, but deadly toward Bijuu.

"Yes," she breathed. "But I'm not from Demon Country. And I've never been fond of the whole 'kill Bijuu' just because thing."

He choose to ignore what she said, for the moment. The way she spoke held a lot of pain and bitterness, too much for their fledgling friendship. "I had heard that miko could harness their energy into a healing one more potent than chakra."

"Yes, that's…true. For the most part," she said. Timidly, she sat down next to him. "Some things are better healed with chakra, others with reiryoku. I… I've never told you what all I did to save you, did I?"

He shook his head. "No." And a small part of him wanted to keep it that way.

"I'm sure you know you were dying, even without whatever battle you were in. Disease. Many clan prodigies suffer from it at some point. It's a blood disease."

"And it can't be cured by chakra or medicine."

She smiled. "No, but reiryoku can. Because it's an impurity, pretty much. So I purified it from your body. You won't have to worry about it again."

Itachi nodded, but he was…disconcerted. "I never told you I belonged to a clan. Or gave any indication to my skill level."

And he could feel her freeze next to him. "I…" She sighed. "I know who you are. But—! I don't really care. Who or what you did, I don't regret saving you. And I'm not turning you in."

"I could kill you before you even would know you're in danger."

"But you won't," she said. Itachi had never known anyone like her: so sure and so stupid in her optimism.

"I killed my entire family."

She sighed. "Yes, I know that. But…that's not who you are. Now, at least. You're… Your soul isn't that dark. Guilty, yes. But not dark."

He would disagree, but she was miko. He could argue that his soul was stained and forever denied peace after death because of his deeds, that the ends did not and could not justify the means, but he could already tell from the surety in her voice that she would not hear it. It was hard to argue that you were beyond saving against a person who could see the taint in one's soul.

"Look at it this way, maybe… Maybe you could view this as an attempt to atone? To make up for what happened or why it did."

"You can't justify lives killed by saving others."

"No," she agreed. "But the fact that you've thought about it means you didn't relish doing it. Not now, at least."

This time he really did sigh. He blamed it on the tediousness of the conversation; it was one he had had many times with himself. And he was recovering. Arguing morality and philosophy was not something to do while injured. "That doesn't change the past."

She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Who said anything about changing the past?" It was more comforting than he liked to admit to himself. "Anyway, I was trying to see if I could heal your eyes. At least give you back some type of sight, however little."

And he couldn't help smiling, even a little. "That would be welcome."

Wow, what a year it's been since I've updated. Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but this is pretty much the divergent point from the original story. And on top of that, I don't even have the original story or this one anymore since I lost my flash drive. I can only hope the wait was worth this chapter and that you all are still enjoying this story.